Attachment - maternal deprivation

Question 1

the effects of maternal deprivation on development

Answer 1

Effects on development
Intellectual development: Bowlby believed that if children were deprived of maternal care would suffer delayed intellectual development characterised by abnormally low IQ - supported by Goldfarb

Emotional development: Bowlby believed that being deprived of a mother affects children’s emotional debelopment and some children might develop affectionless psychopathy - the inability to experience guilt or strong emotion for others which prevents them from forming normal relationship and associated with criminality because affectionless psychopaths lack remorse

Question 2

maternal deprivation

Answer 2

The contuinal presence of nurture from a mother or mother-substitute is essential for normal psychological development of babies and toddeers both emotionally and intellectually. Being seperated from a mother in early childhood has serious consequences (maternal deprivation)

Maternal deprivation: the loss of emotional care that is normally provided by a primary caregiver

Question 3

Critical period

Answer 3

The critical period: the first 30 months of life is seen as a critical period for physiological development and if a child was separated from from their mother (or a suitable caregiver) for an extended period during this critical period then psychological damage was inevitable

Question 4

The 44 Juvenile Thieves’ study

Answer 4

Bowlby – The 44 Juvenile Thieves’ study

Aim: To investigate the effect of longer term separation
Procedure: A natural experiment where case studies were completed on the backgrounds of 44 adolescents were compared to a control group of 44 adolescents who didn’t steal.
Results: 17/44 of the thieves had experienced frequent separations from their mothers before the age of two. 14/17 of the thieves were diagnosed as ‘affectionless psychopaths’ (they didn’t care about how their actions affected others). 12 of these 14 had experienced separation from their mothers.
Conclusion: Early separations are linked to affectionless psychopathy and lack of continuous care causes emotional maladjustment or mental disorders

Question 5

Goldfarb – A deprivation study

Answer 5

Goldfarb – A deprivation study
Aim: To investigate the effect of long term separation
Procedure: Goldfarb followed 30 orphaned children to age 12. Half of the sample had been fostered by four months of age whilst the other half remained in an orphanage. At 12 their IQ was tested using a standard IQ test called the Stanford-Binet test.
Results: The fostered group had an average IQ of 96 whilst the group that remained in the orphanage averaged only 68 (below the cut-off point used to define intellectual disability)
Conclusion: If children are deprived of maternal care they are likely to suffer delayed intellectual development characterised by abnormally low IQ

Question 6

limitation - methodological

Answer 6

The evidence may be poor: the 44 thieves study had methodological limitations due to the marjor design flaws most importantly bias as bowlby carried out the assessments for afectionless psychopathology and family interviews knowing what he hoped to find

Question 7

limitation - counter evidence

Answer 7

Counter-evidence: Lewis who partially replicated the 44 thieves study on a larger looking at 500 young people found that in her sample, a history of early prolonged separation from the mother did not predict criminality or difficulty formed close relationships which suggests other factors may affect the same outcome of early maternal deprivation

Question 8

limitation - critical period

Answer 8

The critical period is more of a sensitive period - Bowlby used the term ‘critical period’ because he believed prolonged separation inevitably caused damage however later research shows damage is not inevitable as some cases have had good outcomes provided the child has some social interaction and good aftercare e.g Koluchova reported the case of twin boys from czechoslovakia who were isolated from the age of 18 months until they seven years old (by their step-mother who kept them in a cupboard). Subsequently they were looked after two loving adults and appeared to recover fully - cases like these show the period identified by bowlby is ‘sensitive’ but cannot be critical